Mary Elizabeth DeRenzis

Betty was born to the late Margaret Conover Hamilton and Raymond Sherwood Hamilton in West Caldwell, N.J., on Dec. 30, 1928. She graduated from Grover Cleveland High School in West Caldwell, N.J., and Traphagen School of Design in New York City.

Betty retired as a legal secretary at Krawitz & Ridley, P.C., Milford, in 1993 and moved to Raleigh, N.C. She was a member of the Dingmans Ferry United Methodist Church, serving as treasurer and Vacation Bible School leader, among other activities. She was most recently a member of the Hope Lutheran Church in Wake Forest, N.C.

Betty and her first husband, Arthur E. "Gene" Lyons, were owners/operators of The Old Bushkill Mill in Bushkill in the 1960s. Betty was an avid antique collector. She was also active in the Girl Scouts of America in Bushkill, acting as a leader. She was an original member of Help Our Kids, an organization formed to help families and children with special needs. She helped hundreds of people in her own way, never wanting acknowledgement or recognition.

Betty is predeceased by husbands Arthur E. Lyons and Albert E. DeRenzis. She is survived by four children: Samuel T. DeRenzis of Placentia, Calif.; Charles J. DeRenzis and his wife, Sandra, of East Stroudsburg; Beth J. Stitt and her husband, Richard, of Raleigh, N.C.; and Arthur E. Lyons Jr. of Allentown. She is also survived by eight grandchildren: Stacy Stitt West and her husband, Aron; Lauren, Kristen and Ryan Stitt; Richard and Vincent DeRenzis; and Meaghan and Keely Lyons; four great-grandchildren, Rylyn, Rhys and Noah West, and Audrey Capps; two sisters, Margaret "Peg" Watkins and Jane Hamilton Ridley and her husband, Arthur K. Ridley; brother John Burdick Hamilton and his wife, Joan; and many loving nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by a brother, Raymond Sherwood Hamilton and his wife, Nancy Hamilton, and a brother-in-law, Frederick Harvey Watkins.

Betty was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother and will be greatly missed.

Services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13, at Dingmans Ferry United Methodist Church, 115 Myck Road, Dingmans Ferry, followed by burial at Milford Cemetery.